


He Who Invites

by Syntax



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-29 20:56:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7699039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syntax/pseuds/Syntax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Count to ten, he told himself.  Close your eyes, count to ten, and maybe it will be gone.  He closed his eyes but just as quickly opened them again.  It was real; it wasn't going away.  Slowly, he raised the flashlight again and directed the beam towards—</p><p>While trying to cure a small bit of insomnia, Dojima stumbles upon a strange guest in Yu's room, and ends up discovering there's another side to the Inaba Murder Case that he would never otherwise have imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Dojima Is Tired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dojima can't sleep. He finds some weird shit.

The front door shut with a click and Police Detective Ryotaro Dojima stumbled into the worn, wood and carpet floors of his home.

He steadied himself against the wall as he tried to find his balance again. The house was dark, black for the most part save for the moonlight shining in through the window. No sound save for the creaking wood beneath his feet and the faint ticking of the wall mounted clock.

Clock. Dojima really didn't want to think about what time it might be. The last time he'd looked at a clock was probably hours ago by now. He'd stayed at the station as late as he could before finally prying himself away from his desk and heading home to get some sleep.

Two people had died in the past month. The cause of death was still unknown. The motive was still unknown. The perpetrator was still unknown. Both victims had been fairly young. Both victims were women. It was very likely there was a serial killer loose. And he was only just now coming home to his family.

Dojima told himself, as he shuffled out of his shoes and into his worn house slippers, that the chances of his family being targeted were fairly slim. Sure, with him being a police detective on the case there was always a chance that he or his family might be targeted by the killer to keep from bringing him to justice, but he'd seen the profiles they were making based on the murders. It was a possibility, yes, but it wasn't a very likely one. Aside from that, his address wasn't exactly public knowledge. And, he noted, the house didn't look like it'd been broken into.

Dojima gazed over the inside of his home, staring at the various mundanities illuminated in the moonlight. The couch that he and Nanako would drink coffee on, the small table where they would share their meals in front of the tv, that calendar they'd gotten from Junes with all their appointments and plans and special days marked on it. In somewhat of a daze, he walked over to it and marked another X onto the glossy paper; Nanako sometimes had trouble remembering what day it was when the calendar didn't get updated. Tomorrow would be Wednesday. Dojima had no idea what his daughter's class would be doing.

The victims were young, the detective mused, but neither of them were anywhere near Nanako's age. Not that their profiles might not be accurate. Not that that meant she couldn't be a target.

Dojima cursed himself for being so paranoid, but he knew it was in his nature to worry. The odds of even a car crash were low, especially in this town, but that didn't stop his wife Chisato from being killed in a hit and run all those years ago. He couldn't put his faith on the probability that nothing would happen; the detective needed to know for himself that his family would be safe.

With a practiced ease he unclipped a flashlight from his belt, clicking the power on and shining a cursory beam through the main room. He would check the rooms. Check the perimeter. As soon as he saw that everything was in order and Nanako's sweet sleeping face was resting on her pillow, he could be sure she was safe for the night.

Dojima headed to the far side of the room to start looking.

He moved slowly and methodically through the main room. First checking the windows—unbroken and still locked—then the den, leading into the adjoining kitchen and back where he started. Some bits and pieces were out of place, sure, but nothing looked suspect. He did another general sweep of the room and decided that it was clean.

Now to check the upstairs rooms.

The carpet muffled the sound of his footsteps as his feet bounced quietly up the stairs. The police detective came to a stop at the hallway leading to his and Nanako's rooms and shined the flashlight out in front of him. Green-grey walls and stained wooden doors were illuminated in the beam of light, as well as an artificial plant decorating the far wall. He moved the beam slowly from side to side, checking to make sure the doors were closed and the coast was clear. No one hiding in the shadows. Nothing out of the ordinary. Unlike the ground floor, there wasn't much room to hide in the narrow hallway.

Time to check the rooms.

Nanako's was closest. Dojima cracked the door open the slightest bit and shined the flashlight inside.

His daughter was scrunched up in her futon, fast asleep. The detective breathed a sigh of relief and gently closed the door.

Dojima headed for the broom closet next. He'd check there, then the bathroom, then the spare room, and then he'd be satisfied for the night. He could finally unroll his futon and settle down to—

There was a light coming from behind one of the doors. The spare room. For a moment, he stood confused, wondering why the hell a light would be on at this time of night. Then a realization hit Dojima, and he cursed under his breath. That was right. It wasn't just Nanako he had to look out for anymore.

Yu. His nephew. The boy had been staying with them for weeks now. How could he have forgotten?

He stared at the faint light sneaking through the cracks in the door frame and debated telling Yu to go to sleep. He could hear mumbling behind the door, though what words were said and to whom he had no idea. It was so late that the detective was nearly willing to just let the boy be. He could just ignore the light, keep walking, and shuffle into bed so he could get at least a few hours of sleep before heading back to work.

But... Yu had school tomorrow didn't he?

After a moment's deliberation, Dojima sighed and rapped gently on the door. Almost at once the mumbling stopped. A moment passed, and a quick pitter patter of footsteps sounded behind the door. The lights went off with a click. The hallway was pitch black once again.

Dojima nodded in satisfaction and continued his sweep, pleased to see that the boy knew to follow directions without a word of complaint. If only more teenagers were like that these days.

A bit of fumbling in the dark found him the doorknob to the broom closet. The door opened with a creak—and so did another.

"Dojima-san?" he heard a quiet voice say.

Dojima turned the flashlight's beam down the hall, finding his nephew—still in his school uniform for whatever reason—peeking out at him from behind his own door. The boy blinked a few times in the harsh light, and Dojima noticed that he was wearing glasses.

"Did you need something?" Yu asked. "It's awfully late. Did you just get home?"

The detective stared at the boy for a few seconds and shook his head.

"Yeah. 'Nother long night," he sighed, "But no, I just wanted to make sure you went to bed at a decent hour. Your mom wouldn't like it much if she heard you were coming in late to school."

Yu's eyes widened just the tiniest bit. "Yes, Dojima-san. Good night." He disappeared behind the door, and Dojima was alone in the hallway again. The man continued his search without another pause or delay. After a few minutes he was finished, and retreated to his bedroom. Finally, he could get some sleep.

* * *

Alright, this was some horse shit.

Dojima stared at the stucco on the ceiling, wrapped up in his futon and utterly, painfully awake. He 'd finally managed to glance at a clock—the digits in his alarm clock glowed in the dark, something he found that helped when he was hungover and couldn't focus properly—and immediately wished he hadn't. Even if he did manage to go to sleep, it wouldn't be very long until he had to wake back up and head to work.

He pressed his head harder into the pillow and shut his eyes. Time to try again. Some sleep was better than no sleep, after all. He just needed to get in a more restful mindset. Take deep breaths, he told himself. Count to ten. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven...

This wasn't working.

Disgruntled, he forced himself upright on the futon, rubbing the itch of sleep out of his eyes with the palm of his hands. What was it kids did these days? Count sheep? Dojima had a feeling that if counting numbers hadn't worked, counting sheep wouldn't fare much better. He glanced at the alarm clock sitting pretty on his dresser. The glowing red digits mocked him and his insomnia.

Dojima sighed, and shuffled out of the futon into his house slippers, stepping around the pile of clothes he'd hastily thrown off in his need to just get to sleep as soon as possible. The detective picked up the flashlight sitting on his dresser and clicked it on, searching the floor for something to wear so one of the kids didn't come out looking for the bathroom at night and find him in his boxers. He picked up a bathrobe, lazily tied it around his waist, and headed for the door. Maybe he'd have a better chance at sleeping if he had some sake in his belly...

Dojima stepped into the hallway, flashlight in hand, sights set on the kitchen and a cheap bottle of sake he'd purchased a few days prior. But... From the looks of things, he'd have to wait a bit longer to get it, because for whatever reason Yu's bedroom light was leaking out of his door again. He scowled and marched towards the door. While some minor insubordination was to be expected when dealing with teenagers, direct disobedience like this would lead to him having words with his nephew.

Dojima rapped his knuckles against the wooden door, as harshly as he thought he could get away with without waking Nanako. Just like last time, silence streched on after his arrival, followed by footsteps and the flick of a light switch. Unlike last time, however, the detective would not let his nephew get off so easily. He tapped his foot as the silence dragged on, waiting for Yu to open to door so they could have a discussion on a little something called disrespect.

The door opened with only a slight creak. Yu's face peeked out behind the wooden frame, his expression scrunching up a bit as the light from Dojima's flashlight hit his eyes. Dojima granted the boy the mercy of letting his vision adjust for a moment before grilling into him. He was irritated, yes, but he wasn't a hardass. Besides, he thought, Yu would suffer later in the morning anyways when he had to drag himself out of bed and off to school.

This time, Dojima noted, Yu was in his pajamas. It was a minor improvement, but not one that would save the boy his wrath.

"So," the police detective began in a quiet but stern voice, "would you mind explaining to me just wha—"

He stopped mid-sentence. Something had caught his eye while he'd been looking down at Yu. What on...? In the shadows just beyond Yu's doorframe, something was glinting in the flashlight's beam; just a little above his nephew's grey-haired head. Somewhat absent-mindedly, Dojima raised his flashlight and directed the beam to the black just above Yu.

His eyes widened. The flashlight fell from his grip and landed on the floor with a muffled thud.

A figure in a metal mask stood behind Yu, inhumanly tall and staring down at him with glowing yellow eyes.

"Dojima-san?", his nephew asked, "Is something wrong?"

* * *

Okay.

You're tired, he told himself. You've had a long day. It's late at night, and you're seeing things. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and carry on like nothing happened. He closed his eyes but just as quickly opened them again. That thing was still there. Dojima felt his eye twitch involuntarily. Slowly, he plucked the flashlight from the ground and directed the beam towards the tall figure leering behind his nephew. The light reflected off the figure's mask just as it would against any metal surface.

"Dojima-san?", his nephew asked again. Apparently he had been taking too long to speak.

"Yu," he began again, straining to keep a level tone lest he wake Nanako, "would you mind explaining to me just what it is I'm seeing?

Dojima could see his nephew blink in the flashlight's glare, the gears in his mind slowly starting to turn. There was an owlish look in his grey eyes as the teenager spoke.

"There is... Nothing unusual, Dojima-san. You are probably sleep-deprived."

That he was. There was an itching developing behind his eyes that only some shut eye could fix, and it wouldn't be the first time he'd seen something in the dark that wasn't there. For a moment, he almost believed Yu—after all, tall gangly masked men weren't exactly something that wandered around in real life.

Then the detective noticed that Yu had looked up at the masked figure when he had asked the boy what he was seeing.

"Yu," Dojima said.

"Honestly with as many hours as you work each day I'm surprised you weren't seeing things earlier."

" _Yu._ "

"Dojima-san, I'm merely concerned for your health," the teenager finished, pouting and crossing his arms and looking for all the world like there wasn't some knock off Kamen Rider behind him. The more he rambled, the more Dojima was staring to get a feeling that what he was seeing was definitely there, and Yu did not want him to know about it. If that was the case, then Dojima had to give the kid some credit at least; there weren't many people he could think of that could stare down a police detective and calmly rattle off bullshit like that with such conviction.

Still, the police detective lowered the flashlight and brought a hand to his temples. Why on Earth had he thought Yu of all people would give him a straight answer? He massaged circles into his scalp as he sighed and rethought his strategy.

Time to gamble.

"Yu," he said flatly, "I can see who or whatever's behind you. Fairly clearly, too. Now I realize that you're a teenager and you maybe have some things that you'd like to keep private from your uncle, but understand that hiding people in our home is not one of those things."

The teenager stared at him, still not breaking his composure. Yu was certainly doing a good job if he was hiding something after all. Most people Dojima set out to interrogate broke down under his gaze pretty quickly. Instead Yu remained in place, looking for any kind of out that might end the conversation and leave him with whatever it was he was trying to hide. Dojima was determined not to give him one.

"Yu. I'm going to give you one last chance. Either you tell me right now what is going on, or I will drag you downstairs and make you tell me."

His nephew managed to keep his composure for a few more moments—then broke.

"I... Didn't think that normal people would be able to see him in this world," the boy mumbled, shoulders low and gaze directed anywhere but his uncle.

Said uncle raised an eyebrow at that. "This world?" Dojima asked. "Yu, have you been watching too much anime recently? What other worlds would there be?"

Yu jolted, his grey eyes flashing. He started to speak, but apparently thought better of it; many times as a matter of fact, judging by the way his mouth kept opening and closing. Eventually, rather than try and find the right words to explain what he meant to his uncle, the boy opened the door wider and simply motioned for Dojima to come inside. Dojima gave a look to the metal masked figure still standing motionless behind Yu, and slowly walked through the door.

The door shut softly behind him. Dojima winced as Yu flipped the lights back on, hissing somewhat as the contrast stung his eyes. When his eyes adjusted, he was able to get a better look at who or whatever it was that he'd seen.

He'd been a bit off in the Kamen Rider assessment. The figure—creature? It was taller than any man Dojima had ever met—dressed more in the manner of a banchou. Aside from the grey of the mask, it was garbed mostly in black; black jacket, black trousers, black gloves, black boots... Upon closer inspection Dojima noted that the boots seemed to be the cause behind the figure's imposing height, being situated on a single metal tooth, almost like tenga-style geta sandals. Though he'd never seen a pair of sandals with the teeth goi—were those blades????

Yu coughed awkwardly, bringing Dojima out from his gawking.

"Uncle," he said, gesturing the the figure clad in black, "Meet Izanagi. He is... a part of my being, I should think. My Persona; I was able to awaken him the first time I set foot in the TV world."

The detective paused, and, letting the words sink in, brought a hand to his head, sagging his shoulders and trying to take even breaths. That was just...

Eventually, he said, "You know Yu, if you'd said that to me without this... Izanagi person right in front of me, I would've thought you were on drugs. As it stands, I'm still not entirely sure that's not the case."

Dojima headed for the loveseat on the wall and slumped himself down.

"Alright, how about this: why don't you start from the beginning, and we'll work our way down to here. Can you do that for me?"

Yu nodded. "First of all," he said, "it began shortly after I arrived here in Inaba. You recall Saki Konishi, the girl who found Yamano-san's body? Well, a few days before her death, one of my classmates told me a rumor: apparently if you look into a turned off TV at midnight on a rainy night, you'll see your soulmate on the screen..."


	2. In Which Dojima Goes To Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dojima goes to work as a Japanese police officer in Japan.
> 
> Also some of the discussion he had the prior night with Yu.

Police detective Ryotaro Dojima grumbled in his kitchen as he poured his coffee. He was running on next to no sleep at this point, and with early morning traffic due to start in half an hour he really didn't have time to waste. The bitter drink went down like fire in his belly, and woke him up just enough to get him safely to work.

Tired as he was, the drive to the police station managed to be uneventful. He found his usual parking space and locked his car, ambling on into the station like he'd done so many times before. His eyes may have itched like crazy, but the detective had enough caffeine in his system to be able to get to work without having to worry about falling asleep at the wheel. At his desk on the other hand... That all depended on whether he'd be doing something other than paperwork.

The detective retrieved what he'd need for the day from his car and headed through the station doors, his shoes clicking against the police station's tiled floor. The smell of coffee and cheap takeout filled his nostrils; someone must've brought food in. Probably Ashida. A bespectacled receptionist at the desk waved hello at him as he clocked in. He gave a clipped hello and made some polite small talk before heading to his desk and bracing himself for the day to come.

He had a full day of work ahead, and he didn't even need his fingers to count how many hours of sleep he'd gotten. Staying awake until five—not his customary clockout time, but just five—would be tricky work. As a matter of fact, Dojima wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to pull it off. The police detective was no stranger to all-nighters, sure, but he hadn't exactly been sleeping well since this case started. On the other hand...

His men would probably forgive him if he took a quick snooze, some part of him whispered as he settled down at his desk; they knew how hard he worked, they'd probably forgive him if he drifted off to sleep. There was no shame in inemuri, it said. There goes Officer Dojima, the men would say to each other, he's finally worked himself to exhaustion. Dojima grumbled to himself and shook the idea out of his head. No, he'd make it through the day. He just needed more coffee.

Regardless of whether the men would be able to forgive him, Dojima knew he'd never be able to forgive himself. Not while there was a serial killer with supernatural powers running around Inaba.

* * *

"A world inside the TV," Dojima recapped.

His nephew nodded, a serious expression on his face.

The strange figure that had started this whole thing, Izanagi, stood resolutely by the door. It—he—hadn't moved since Yu began his explanation. Dojima supposed that was because Izanagi wasn't an actual person, but the stillness set his nerves on edge either way.

"And," Dojima continued, "You go in there, and fight monsters?"

"Shadows," Yu corrected.

"...Right, Shadows. And you do this using weapons you bought from a blacksmith... That you hide under your clothes... Even when you're at school?"

Yu cringed noticeably at that, causing Dojima to bring a hand to his forehead. Of course Yu would bring weapons to school. The boy and his friend had brought weapons to the Junes food court, why should he be surprised at his nephew's lack of common sense now?

"I'm going to pretend that I never asked that question," the detective groaned. "Jesus, Yu. If I hadn't walked right into this supernatural crap, were you ever going to tell me? Even ignoring my work, I'm still your uncle, and keeping you and Nanako safe is my top priority."

* * *

He measured the coffee grounds with a trained eye, and placed the new filter back into the machine for brewing. There was still enough water in the tank for a new pot, so the detective wouldn't have to take care of that as well. All he'd need to do is press the button.

Dojima leaned against the plastic counter top where the coffee machine rested, drinking what had been the last of the old pot before he'd poured it into his mug and listening to the sound of the machine brewing a fresh batch. He tried to clear his head, and closed his eyes. There was still that itch of not enough sleep scratching away behind his eyelids. The coffee was helping, but there was a limited amount in the station, and it could only do so much. He'd need to get some real sleep if he wanted the itch to go away, but until he was ready to clock out and head home, the coffee would have to do.

The smell of fresh brewing coffee bloomed around him, and Dojima breathed it in greedily.

"You sure are slamming the coffee back hard today, boss."

Dojima didn't even need to open his eyes to know who that voice belonged to. He'd recognize that easygoing tone anywhere.

"Adachi," he greeted, cracking an eye open out of courtesy for his junior officer, "Do you have anything new to tell me regarding the case?"

The lankier man shook his head. "Sorry boss, but we don't have any new leads on either Yamano or Konishi. The lab hasn't sent back any new data on the bodies either. The only thing we've really been getting is more pressure from the higher ups to find out who did it."

Dojima grumbled under his breath. "Figures. Bastards always got antsy when cases started to drag on too long for their liking." He swirled his mug in his hand and downed the rest of his coffee before pouring himself another cup.

"Any new calls or disturbances?" the detective asked, "I'm starting to feel a little cooped up just sitting in the office all day looking over case files. Coffee's not exactly helping that, either."

Adachi actually had the gall to look concerned. "I'll say. Did you not get enough sleep last night or something? Why didn't you just take a—"

The detective didn't even let him finish his sentence. "I am not sleeping at my desk, Adachi. Do we have any calls or not?"

The junior officer shrunk somewhat under Dojima's gaze. Adachi rubbed the back of his neck and nodded, turning his head away from the detective's sight.

"Yeah," he said, "That's actually why I came to get you. Block 26; domestic dispute. Caller said she'd heard a lot of yelling and was worried things would get violent."

Dojima nodded, running the details over in his mind. He set the coffee mug down on the counter and headed to his desk.

"Then let's go."

* * *

"I'm sorry, Uncle," Yu said.

The boy bowed low on his knees; almost a dogeza. If Dojima was being honest with himself, it was somewhat unsettling. He prompted his nephew to stand back up after a few awkward moments, watching to make sure that Yu didn't hit his head on the low table that stood between them.

After that, an uncomfortable silence settled over the room. Yu was leaning against the cabinets and drawers placed against the wall, hunched in over himself, tapping his foot, and glancing back to Dojima every so often. He had something more to say, Dojima was certain of it, but the boy seemed to be waiting for something before he opened his mouth. Dojima himself was situated on the ratty loveseat, running through what had been said and trying to make sense of it all. He had proof of Yu's story standing guard by the door, watching the both of them without a word, but the whole situation still felt dreamlike and unreal.

A world inside the tv? Monsters? A killer with a supernatural ability, and a bear that could sniff out trouble?

Dojima ran a hand through his hair and let out a tired breath.

"Show me your weapon," he finally said.

Yu started, surprised by the request, but followed it without any complaint. He kneeled down by the desk Dojima had set up for him in the corner (the kid needs a place to study, Dojima had claimed) and pulled something out from behind the backboards. He quietly placed it on the small table, allowing Dojima to get a better look.

Sitting on the table in front of him was a sword. It didn't have an attached scabbard, something Dojima noted he would have to correct if the weapon were to remain in his home. The blade was probably a few feet long with a slight curve; a katana? Dojima didn't know his swords very well, but he did know that most types tended to have a larger curve to them. Looking at the blade, some part of Dojima was proud that his nephew was apparently able to wield such a formidable weapon. The rest of him on the other hand—

"I don't suppose you have the proper registration for this in accordance to the Firearms and Swords Law."

* * *

 

It was raining. Dojima leaned against the squad car, listening to the staccato sound of the droplets hitting the metal roof and staring out into the vast grey sky.

He'd tried lighting a cigarette, but the rain had already soaked through the cheap paper, so instead he just chewed on it, swirling the flavor of the tobacco around in his mouth. Thanks to the rain, the detective didn't need to worry about falling asleep anymore: the freezing droplets falling everywhere had shocked the sleep from right out of him. He was wide awake. A few feet away, Adachi was on the porch of the house, taking statements from a man shaking underneath a heavy blanket; the husband involved in the dispute. Apparently what had been an argument had escalated almost to the point of violence by the time they'd arrived at the house.

The husband was a hunting enthusiast. Acquired his gun license several years ago and never once missed a renewal when it was time to get a new one. His wife didn't have a license herself, but she knew where the gun was kept, and she knew the combination to open the safe. At some point during the dispute, she'd gotten hold of the gun, and began using it to threaten her husband.

Whoever it was that had called in to report the dispute had been right to do so. With a shotgun in the house, what had started as a domestic dispute could have easily become a homicide. Thankfully, the man's wife only knew the combination to the gun's safe, not the safe to the ammunition. The weapon had been unloaded. Its only power as a weapon would be as a bludgeoning tool, which, while not exactly harmless, was certainly preferable to the deadly power of a firearm. The wife had been arrested on the grounds of attempted assault with a deadly weapon, and handling a firearm without a license; she was sitting handcuffed in the back of the squad car as Dojima gazed into the distance.

Dojima caught an all clear from Adachi and moved to put out his cigarette before remembering it wasn't even lit in the first place. He flicked it out into the street regardless.

"Are we ready to go?" he asked.

Adachi nodded, flipping through the pages of his notebook and tucking it away into his pocket. "We'll have some paperwork to go through for this later: Sajiri-san said he was going to file a restraining order on his wife after this. Can't say I blame him. I'd probably do the same thing if my wife pulled a gun on me."

"I think you'd need to get a wife first before she could do anything to you, Adachi. Now get in, it's a long way back to the station."

"What—Hey! Dojima-san, that was uncalled for!"

* * *

 

The drive back to the police station was largely uneventful, marked mostly by the clatter of the falling rain and occasional complaining from the handcuffed woman in the back. He and Adachi mostly ignored her, so she didn't count for much. When they arrived, it was almost with an afterthought that the woman was lead to a holding cell. She'd be interrogated later, either by Dojima and Adachi, or some other officers that happened to be free at the time. It didn't matter that they'd caught her red-handed on both charges: they still needed to determine whether she would be willing to atone for her crime.

His shoes squished against the tiled floor as the detective headed back to his desk to file the report. A few of the other officers (juniors, detectives, and otherwise) gawked at him and asked Dojima if he was alright as he walked by, his clothes obviously damp from the rain and his footsteps leaving dark splotches where the floor had turned to carpet. He waved off their concerns. A little rain never hurt anyone.

The police detective situated himself at his desk, stretched out his hands, and began drafting an incident report for the call he'd taken earlier that day.

In this way, somehow an hour passed by.

He didn't know it from looking at a clock; the time was revealed to him when an officer in a desk nearby—Kurosawa it looked like—let out a yawn and started gathering his things. The other officer noticed Dojima looking his way, and gave him a smile.

"It's getting close to dinner time," he explained, "I promised Mayumi we'd go out some place nice tonight. You take care of yourself Dojima-san."

Dojima offered a polite goodbye to his coworker, wishing he and his wife a splendid evening before turning back to his reports. His eyes scanned over the documents spread out on his desk, looking for any mistakes he might've made or important details he might've forgotten to include. After a few sweeps, the kanji all began to merge together, prompting the detective to accept his work as it was for the time being. If there was anything he needed to fix, he'd do so tomorrow morning.

The detective leaned back in his chair, gazing out at nothing in particular and mulling over anything at all. The sound of clicking keyboards and pencils hitting paper slowly and gradually gave way to the scraping of chairs against the floor and small talk made between coworkers getting ready to head home. He said his goodbyes to those that sent theirs to him; Tetsujin, Bunya, Hiraki, Ashida... More and more officers began to filter out of the station as the time went by, and Dojima was beginning to wonder if he should join them for once.

He hadn't been given any more work since coming back with Adachi. There were no new leads on the murder case, at least none that came from legitimate sources. Regarding illegitimate sources... He needed to talk with Yu again.

Dojima looked at the nearest clock. Yu had given him a lot of interesting information, but he needed to know more. If he left soon, he might be able to catch Yu before the boy retreated to his studies. They'd have plenty of time to go over the case information then. And in any case... When was the last time he'd come home in time for dinner? Dojima couldn't remember.

The detective gave one last look at the papers on his desk and gathered up his things. He'd pick them up something nice for dinner tonight.

* * *

"Katsudon!" Nakano squealed with delight.

The six-year-old had rushed up from her quiz show to hug her father the moment he'd walked through the door. The little girl was already happy that her father had come home early, but seeing that he'd come home bearing her favorite food was enough to boost Nanako into cloud nine.

Dojima laughed at his daughter's antics. "What," he said, "No love for your old man?" He set the bags of takeout down on the counter and picked her up, enveloping the child in a warm hug of his own.

"I missed you, Dad!" she said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders with a mile-wide smile.

"I missed you too, sweetie." Dojima replied. "Where's Yu?"

A series of muffled footsteps caught his attention, and Dojima turned to see the teenager in question coming down the stairs. Yu nodded his head in greeting, though appeared to be somewhat lost in thought. Dojima nodded back, setting Nanako down and ruffling her hair. He went back to the bags and boxes of takeout, retrieving the warm dishes and setting them on the counter. Nanako bounced on her heels as she watched the colorful array of food line the countertop; it all smelled so good already, she couldn't wait to taste it!

"Uncle?" Yu said suddenly.

He turned. There was a serious expression on Yu's face; Dojima had a feeling he knew what was on the boy's mind for once.

"Yes, Yu?" he asked.

"I think something might be wrong with my television. Would you mind coming to take a look at it later?"

Dojima paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright," he said, "I'll take a look at it after dinner. Nanako, could you set the table?"

"Okay!"

The six-year-old grabbed as much as she could hold in her small arms and dashed off to the table in the living room. Dojima watched her go, a quiet pride blooming in his chest at how responsible his little girl was at such a young age. He glanced back at Yu, still standing right in front of the stairs. A contemplative look had taken over the teenager's face again. Yu seemed to notice Dojima's staring, and decided to help Nanako set the table for dinner.

A few minutes later they all settled down to eat. Yu asked Nanako to put on the weather channel in between bites of fried pork, taking in the week's forecast with a strange look to his eyes. Dojima asked Nanako how her day at school had been, and she was only too happy to oblige; the day's lesson had been in haiku. Apparently they'd just started a short unit on traditional poetry. She repeated a few of the short poems she remembered from class, spurred on with encouraging words from her father and older cousin and smiling herself into a fit of giggles from all the attention.

When the meal was finished Nanako gathered up all the plates and bowls and ferried them off to the kitchen for washing. Yu retreated to his room for the time being, leaving Dojima to occupy his time with the day's newspaper. Time passed slowly.

Nanako came over to give her father one last hug before going to bed. He sent her off with a kiss on the forehead and wished her sweet dreams for the night. As the girl left, Dojima glanced at the clock to check the time. With a sigh, he turned off the television set and headed upstairs to Yu's room. It was time to see what Yu had wanted to show him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not want to be written and by the end of things I didn't want to write it either. But now it's over with, and I can start work on the next chapter.
> 
> Inemuri is the act of sleeping at one's desk, presumably because one is so dedicated to their work that they've been unable to get proper sleep at home. It is seen as a sign of dedication to one's job, and considered somewhat admirable.
> 
> The day's date last chapter was chosen at random, but I found a website that has the game's calendar listed, and it turns out I randomly picked a very good day. I'm gonna be following that calendar for the rest of the story, at least in terms of that the weather will be like for each day.
> 
> All swords and firearms are by law required to be registered with the police. The only firearms available to the public are shotguns and air guns, which can only be kept under very specific conditions and require regular re-registration to keep. Because of this, firearms are becoming rarer and rarer in Japan, as many Japanese do not consider the benefit of owning a gun worth the effort needed to keep it. Swords are also required to be registered with the police, but are not as heavily restricted; for instance, two types of swords are not required to be registered at all: practice swords such as those for iaido, and swords with a blade under a certain amount of centimeters.
> 
> With this in mind, the sword that Yu shows Dojima is the Iai Katana. I originally wanted him to have the Long Sword, since I didn't want him to have optimal equipment, but legalities got in the way of that. Picking everyone's weapons is going to get tricky from here on out.....


	3. In Which Dojima Encounters The Plot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu has a lot going on right at the moment. Dojima is a dad.
> 
> Together, they fight crime. Or at least make a plan to fight crime.

Yu's door was closed.

The patter of rain bled through the walls, adding another layer of white noise to the general sounds of the darkened hallway. A light streamed out from underneath Yu’s bedroom door, casting a small amount of illumination into the dark, just as it had done last night when this mess had started. At the time, Dojima hadn't known what Yu was doing. The detective still wasn't entirely sure of it even now, after Yu had told him. He'd only known about this "other world" for less than a day. Surely he could be forgiven for being a bit slow on the uptake.

Dojima rapped his knuckles gently against the frame of the door, and waited for Yu to respond. The door opened after a few moments, the grey-haired teenager's owlish eyes peering out from behind it. Yu beckoned Dojima into the room without a word, shutting the door behind him just as silently.

Physically, nothing about the room had changed since the last time he'd stepped foot into it. At the same time, the detective couldn't help but see everything in a different manner. Now that he knew it was there, the desk was a poor hiding space for Yu's iai katana. The box television sat conspicuously on a small hutch, looking for all the world like the screen hadn't rippled and waved like water beneath his nephew's hand the previous night. The walls even seemed different, the color harsher than it'd been any other time that he'd seen them, and though Dojima knew damn well it was his nephew standing by the door, he kept expecting to instead see the towering figure of Izanagi at the turn of his head.

Rain continued to fall outside.

"So," Dojima said, turning back to face his nephew, "I'm guessing whatever it is you needed to show me has something to do with this...'other world?'"

Yu nodded in affirmation. The grey-haired teenager stood stock still by the door frame, hands clasped together and occasionally wringing. When he did speak, it was somewhat hesitant. "Uncle, do you want to sit down for now? There are still a few minutes left to wait before midnight."

A quick glance at the nearby wall-mounted clock affirmed that the time was roughly about a quarter to midnight. Dojima shook his head, barely giving the suggestion time to consider.

"I'll be fine," was all he said in response. He wasn't nearly as tired as he'd been the previous night, so it wouldn't kill him to stay on his feet during whatever discussion they were going to have. Besides, Dojima thought, if Yu was going to be standing while they waited, the police detective could at least grant his nephew the courtesy of doing the same. Yu on the other hand appeared to disagree with the sentiment; a slight frown tugged at his face, but the boy made no further comment on the subject. Instead he glanced back to the wall-mounted clock.

For a moment, there was no sound in the room as the two men stood, save for the clattering of rain falling outside and the soft ticking of the clock. Yu was the first to break the silence.

"Dojima-san, there's a chance I won't return from the TV World tomorrow."

"Wha—" the boy held up a hand. Dojima immediately stopped, the words he was going to say catching in his throat. He swallowed them down.

"Yu," the detective said gruffly, "you'd better have a damn good reason for scaring me like that. That was completely uncalled for."

Yu shook his head, the frown on his face deepening. "I'm sorry, Uncle, but concerning all that could happen in the next twenty-four hours, there is a definite chance that when Yosuke, Chie and I enter the world inside the TV, we might not be able to return safely, if at all. Tomorrow is our last chance to save the would-be victim, and I cannot predict what might happen to us should we fail." The teenager paused, and sighed deeply. He drove a hand through his hair and started pacing off to the side.

"Dojima-san, Yosuke and Chie—they're concerned that we're running out of time to rescue the victim, but I don't think they've considered the possibility yet that we might find them and simply not be able to rescue them for whatever reason. It's taken us so long thus far because Chie sprained her ankle in a fight with one of the more common shadows on our way through the castle, and I dislocated my shoulder while we were fighting one of the stronger ones that had been sent after us when we tried to go after the victim. Yosuke's persona was able to patch up the worst of the damage, but..."

"But you're afraid that someone might get hurt beyond what your friend could fix?" Dojima finished. The specific degree of injury that would prevent their safe return wasn't stated, but Dojima had a feeling he knew exactly what they were; and he had a feeling that Yu knew he knew as well. Yu nodded, not commenting further on his uncle's words.

"On the other hand," the teenager continued, "there's just as much a chance that we succeed, and return no worse for the wear. We're starting to find patterns in the shadow's movements and attacks, and were getting better at dealing with them effectively. By this time tomorrow, we could very well have come out victorious and foiled the killer's most recent attempt. I just wanted to let you know beforehand if worst comes to worst: you can't journey into the TV by yourself, so there would be no way to find us if we never came back out."

Yu paused his pacing, almost shaking from whatever realization he'd had and looking at his uncle with a tired expression, which the detective certainly couldn't blame him for. To be only sixteen years old and knowing that at any moment you could disappear without leaving behind even a body to mourn... When Dojima had been a younger, greener man, fresh out of the police academy, the realization of his own mortality had been a sobering thing. His expression softened. That wasn't something a kid should have to go through.

He placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder. Yu stiffened somewhat at the contact, but made no other move as his uncle pulled him into a hug.

* * *

Even after six years of parenting Nanako, Dojima didn't feel like he had a lot of experience as a father. After all, he was gone more often than not. He certainly didn't have any experience being a father to a teenager.

So, with Yu still ramrod stiff in his arms, Dojima found himself at somewhat of a loss. With the rain still pattering as loud as ever against the walls and windows of the house, the sound of everything he could be saying but wasn't hung heavy in the room.

He patted his nephew's back and shoulders awkwardly, mumbling strings of _hey_ , _calm down_ , _it's alright_ , _I'm here_ , _you're safe_ , _everything's gonna be okay_ , the same way he did whenever Nanako would wake up crying from a bad dream. Part of him was sure the teenager would be more mortified than anything else by the treatment. But, oddly enough, Dojima could feel the grey-haired teenager starting to relax in his arms. Apparently he must've been doing something right.

It took a fair bit of time, but eventually Yu asked to be released from his uncle's hold, and the detective readily complied.

"Thank you", was all the boy said.

Dojima shot another look to the clock on the wall. Just a few more minutes left. The detective let out a breath and took to the loveseat by the wall, beckoning Yu to join him. If his nephew had shed any tears during that...episode, Dojima hadn't heard them, but the boy's usually pale face was a tad redder than Dojima would've liked, and he'd rather Yu have a chance to sit and rest.

When they were both seated, he said, "All right, now that that's out of the way, is there anything else I need to know about the case? You mentioned the tv when you asked me to come talk—am I correct in thinking this has something to do with the Midnight Channel you talked about last night? Where it shows the victims trapped in the 'other world?'"

Yu nodded.

"Alright. Fill me in while we still have time before it comes on."

"The victim is a classmate of mine: Yukiko Amagi. We don't really have an idea of why she was chosen, but we've suspected she might be next since the day before she was taken."

What.

"Wait, you _knew_ someone was in danger and you didn't—!"

Yu quickly put a hand over Dojima's mouth before he could say anything more. The boy held a finger over his mouth and made a low shush-ing sound, eyes wide open and frantically glancing back to the door every other second. Dojima yanked the hand away from his face, fully intending to tell his nephew off for such a blatant display of disrespect—when he heard a small noise coming from across that hall. A muted shuffling, like someone turning over in their bed.

Oh.

He muttered a quiet apology to Yu. The detective was still angry that his nephew had decided to take matters into his own hands instead of seek help through the proper channels, but that anger was muted somewhat with the shame of having forgotten himself and almost waking Nanako with his yelling.

"...Yu, if you knew that your friend might be targeted, why didn't you send a tip into the police? We would've looked into the matter and Amagi-san might not have been taken in the first place." Dojima said, tone level.

"You would've had to look into it immediately. We only knew the day before Yukiko was taken, and at that time it was more of an educated guess than any kind of certainty." Yu explained, "How was I supposed to stress that to the police? Tell them that I'd seen her silhouette in the static of a turned-off tv on a rainy night, and that meant she was going to be pulled into another world and killed by monsters? You said yourself last night that if I hadn't had proof that the other world was real standing right next to me, you would've dismissed it all as a drug-induced fantasy. How was I to know that the police wouldn't do the same?"

The detective started to debate the point, but he knew Yu was right. Whoever had answered the call would laugh him off of the line and continue going about their day. And even if they hadn't, there was also the possibility that they might think the call was from the killer himself telegraphing his next victim, and waste time investigating the where and who the call had come from. Which would lead to Yu being arrested on suspicion of murder and interrogated for whatever he might know... Even if they'd realize their mistake and let the boy go, who knew how much time that would take to clear up? There was only a small window of time to rescue the victim before they were killed...

Dojima sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should've realized that wasn't a viable option for you. That doesn't mean I agree with your decision to take things into your own hands, but I can see why you made it."

"That's alright, Uncle. You didn't know."

The detective mulled the information around in his head again, searching for anything that he might've missed between his own investigation and Yu's. Amagi had gone missing about two weeks ago, right? There'd been a call to the station from her parents saying that she was gone and they couldn't find her anywhere. A few officers were posted around town to investigate, since there was a possible motive that might link her to the killings. That was...

A light bulb may as well have lit up above the detective's head.

"Wait, is that why you and your friend brought weapons to Junes? So you could go in after her?" he asked.

Yu paused. He nodded again, albeit much more sheepishly this time. A somewhat different red than he'd displayed before was blooming on the boy's face—likely from embarrassment at the memory. Not many teenagers could say that they'd been arrested before, or that they'd had to be bailed out by their uncle...

"Sorry again about that, Dojima-san," Yu said, "If it's any consolation, that was really Yosuke's idea, not mine."

The grey-haired boy clicked his tongue and resumed his explanation.

"Anyways, we set off to rescue her as soon as we could, but... Things haven't been going so well. We were attacked by Chie's shadow, and while that lead to her awakening her persona, it also cost us a whole day in recovery time. And then we managed to catch up to Yukiko's shadow, but she sent a really powerful shadow against us. We couldn't defeat it at first, so we had to leave, regroup, and try again until we could."

"And now you have one day left," Dojima surmised. He rested his chin on his hand, trying to imagine what the search must've been like. Wandering around fighting monsters for two weeks, trying to find your missing classmate... It suddenly occurred to Dojima that he hadn't gotten any calls from the school regarding Yu slacking off on his work. And until last night, he hadn't even known Yu was up to anything at all. Those kids must've been trying to balance their everyday lives with their search.

"Yes, Dojima-san," Yu continued. "But... Aside from the chance we might not return, I have high hopes that we can rescue Yukiko-san. Teddie believes we've reached the last part of her castle that we haven't searched yet, so she must be somewhere in there. We just need to find her and bring her back to our world."

Dojima nodded. He ran over everything again in his head, just for the sake of review. If he missed anything important and it turned out to be a problem later—

A static-y buzz suddenly enveloped the room, taking Dojima off guard. He looked over to the television sitting a few yards away. The screen flickered between a blank black void and bursts of grey static. Little by little, bands of the static began crawling and multiplying along the television screen until the whole surface was a mess of black, white, and grey pixels buzzing along. Hadn't it been—?

Oh.

That was right. Yu mentioned the television had to be turned off first to access the Midnight Channel. He glanced back at the highschooler sitting beside him. Yu hadn't made a move. The boy's eyes flickered once over to Dojima, and then back to the glowing television without a single word on the matter.

Well. Dojima pursed his lips and readjusted his position on the loveseat.

It was time for the show to start.

* * *

The image was pure static at first. Almost like it was trying to reach a network that wasn't broadcasting anymore. Slowly the image on the screen gained color and clarity, turning itself bit by bit into a (still somewhat static-y) view of a pale woman in a large pink ballroom gown. He glanced back at Yu. The boy didn't seem surprised like he would be if the woman were someone he didn't expect to see. Dojima looked back at the television screen where the woman was talking into a microphone. Would this woman be Yukiko Amagi? She certainly looked young enough to be a high schooler.

Though as he was looking... It might have been the poor quality of the video feed, but something about her just seemed off in a way that Dojima couldn't readily explain.

She appeared to be standing in an ornate room of some sort—possibly a ballroom to fit the ballgown? Yu had said Amagi-san was holed up in a castle, so something like that wouldn't be out of the question. But then again, she was in a castle in another world, filled with monsters born from people's minds. Logic and reason might not have as much of a hold on this situation as they would otherwise.

" _Welcome back lovely viewers!_ " the girl chirped in the same kind of overly perky tone you hear on idols, " _This is Princess Yukiko coming back to you live on my journey to find a prince that will sweep me away!_ "

" _I'm sorry to say though, but I haven't really had a lot of luck in the matter! As big as this castle is, I thought for sure there'd be at least one hunk of beefcake looking around for some action. But so far it looks like I got myself ripe for ravishing all for nothing!_ "

The girl pouted as she said that. Dojima stared at the television screen, wondering if he'd heard correctly or had somehow had a stroke without noticing.

" _Oh, but don't worry lovely viewers!_ " the girl continued. She swept an arm out over the lavishly decorated room, a smile still on her face and something still very off about her everything. " _I'm not gonna stop my search just yet, I've still got one last trick up my sleeve!_ "

The camera angle zoomed into the girl's face. Her expression—which Dojima honestly really wished he would never again see on someone so young—could only be described as sultry as she explained to her audience.

" _Pretty soon, things are going to get a little dangerous in here. All my lovely guests in this castle are getting restless, and it won't be long now before they start getting a little out of control. It'll be the perfect opportunity for my prince to come and save his damsel in distress before it's too late!_ "

The girl paused. She brought her finger to her chin and pouted in thought, her microphone hanging limply in her hand.

" _If my prince doesn't come,_ " she said, just the slightest bit contemplative, " _Then I guess that'll be the end of our program. Oh well! I'll see you all next time, everyone! Until then, this is Princess Yukiko, signing off!_ "

The television screen abruptly switched back to black with a barely audible click, leaving the room silent and Dojima feeling like he needed a smoke. That was...

"Surprisingly, that wasn't as bad as her first show. At least she didn't bring up her 'lacy unmentionables' again," Yu quipped.

"Wait, WHA— no. No, on second thought, I really don't want to know."

The police detective groaned and buried his head in his hands. He really hoped that that wasn't actually the Amagi girl. It took all kinds to make a community, but... The part of him that was a father sent a prayer out to the girl's parents in hopes that she normally didn't behave that way. Just stop thinking about the uncomfortably sexy teenager, he told himself, and get back to the situation at hand.

Dojima sighed.

"Listen, you have my phone number on your cellphone, right?" he asked.

Yu looked confused. "I do, but I don't know if it will work in the TV World."

"Doesn't matter if it works there or not. When you save your friend," because Dojima fully believed that Yu and his friends would save her, "you'll show up back at Junes. When that happens, I want you to call me. Is that understood?"

"Yes Dojima-san!"

"Good," Dojima said, "Now get some sleep. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

He headed to the door, and shut it quietly behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol the pacing in this fic is all over the fucking place
> 
> don't let the long update time fool you, i've really only been working on this monster for a little over a week.
> 
> shout out to my beta readers for helping me crank out the last ~900 words or so I needed to bring this thing together.
> 
> princess yukiko's voice was fun as hell to write


	4. In Which Dojima Goes To Work (Again)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dojima has a talk with Yu over the phone and forces the author to research the Japanese legal system probably more than necessary.
> 
> Later, a new challenger arrives at the police station.

Stepping foot into the police station to start the work day the next morning somehow managed to be the most surreal thing that Dojima had ever done. He'd almost forgotten to even take his jacket with him out of the car, not that it would've mattered much since he hardly ever wore the damn thing to begin with. The clacking of his shoes on the tiled entrance of the police station felt too large in his ears, the lights too bright, too sterile, the smell of cigarette smoke somehow more noticeable than it had ever been.

If the receptionist waved hello to him again as he walked past, Dojima didn't notice.

He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. That would make it two days in a row now. The detective was starting to hope that this wouldn't become a habit—all that coffee certainly wouldn't be very good for him, and it wasn't like he was getting any younger. Coupled with how stressful this case was, if things didn't change for the better soon Dojima wouldn't be surprised if he ended up having to take a trip to the hospital before it was over.

And even that was discounting this new development Yu had told him about the Amagi girl...

Dojima felt suddenly detached from everything in a way he hadn't since the first few days of dealing with Chisato's death. He felt tired in a way that he knew had nothing at all to do with how little he had slept. His nephew might die today.

_His nephew might die today._

His nephew and his nephew's friends too, if all went horribly wrong. And the real kicker there was that Dojima couldn't really do a damn thing about it. He couldn't go into the weird TV World Yu had talked about to help them fight their battles. Even if he could, what exactly could he do? He'd be going in more or less blind, with no real idea of what to expect and not exactly what one would call peak physical condition. For a brief second, Dojima thought that maybe he could bring his gun in with him and support the kids that way, but he dashed that idea immediately. Too risky. Judging by Yu's katana (which, to Dojima's eternal gratitude, turned out to be a dulled practice blade and didn't need registration) his nephew was a close range fighter, meaning any shot aimed at a monster could potentially hit Yu instead.

And even if it didn't, how was he going to explain why his gun suddenly needed more maintinence than his logged shots would indicate? Why he suddenly needed to start taking it home with him? How was he going to explain the sudden need to buy more ammunition? The disappearances? As much as it was frowned upon, as much as he, as a father, hated the idea of it, the kids had the option of skipping school if they really needed to, but Dojima couldn't suddenly take time off in the middle of a murder case without raising suspicion.

No, the kids' struggles in the monster world were dangerous enough already. Dojima wasn't going to throw himself into the mix and make it even more dangerous for them. There was nothing he could do.

Nothing but to just sit down at his desk, continue on his workday like nothing was wrong, and wait for a text message that might never come.

The detective stopped midstride, shoes coming down softly on the carpet. His desk was just a few more steps away, papers already lined up and just waiting to be read. He had never felt less in the mood to do his job.

After a moment's deliberation, Dojima turned on his heel and headed out the way he came, hands digging into his jacket pockets for a carton of cigarettes.

If he was going to do anything productive today, he was going to need a smoke first.

* * *

It took maybe ten minutes of sitting at his desk doing paperwork for Adachi to swing by and tell the detective they needed to head out. Dojima hadn't even had his coffee yet. He welcomed the distraction.

First call of the day was a minor dispute over a rowdy customer at the Aiya Chinese Diner. The suspect, one Sako Norishige, had allegedly stumbled into the diner while intoxicated and attempted to order. The hostess on duty had refused to serve Norishige as he was obviously drunk, and asked him to leave the restaurant. Norishige hadn't taken kindly to that and refused to do so, loudly repeating his order and generally being a bother to the other patrons.

Simple thing. Show up, cuff the suspect, drive him to the station, and drop him in a cell so he can sober up without any chance of hurting someone or becoming an even bigger public nuisance. Dojima had been the one to take a statement from the hostess while Adachi was cuffing Norishige.

The hostess was a nice girl. Said her name was Mihara Ikoi. Early twenties, trying to save up money so she can go to school in the city. She'd apologized for starting their day off with a call so soon, especially over such a small thing, but Dojima waved her off. It was his job to serve the people at whatever time they needed him, however they needed him. There was nothing wrong with that.

Besides, it gave him a chance to get out of the office and away from his own problems.

Adachi led the drunken man to his cell when they returned to the station, Dojima watching over from the sidelines with a cup of coffee (fresh from the diner, courtesy of Miss Ikoi) in hand and a tired expression. They'd give Norishige a few hours to sober up, hear his side of the story, and start up the interrogation from there. It probably wouldn't even be that hard to get a confession and a plea of atonement from Norishige, especially considering the amount of witnesses that had already provided a statement before they'd left the restaurant.

Dojima shook his head. He already had a fairly good idea of the events leading up to being called in: an office drinking party that had gone on just a little too long, an inebriated worker trying to power through his hangover with some food. Simple, clean cut, common. All in all, there were probably worse ways to start off your day.

He checked his watch for the time, just to see if it'd be reasonable to take a quick smoke break at this point in the day before heading back to his desk to tackle more paperwork. The detective only had half a pack on him, and he'd rather not use up all his smokes early on in the day before it was time to go home. Actually, now that he thought about it, the coffee was probably having an effect on how much he was needing to smoke today—maybe he should consider switching to tea for the rest of the day? Bunya's girlfriend had brought in a stash of good matcha powder for the rest of them to use after he'd complained that the tea they had wasn't that great...

Sadly, Dojima hardly even caught a glance of the watch's face before his cellphone went off.

_pipipi pipipi_

The detective grumbled in irritation, (seriously? he just got back from a call), leaning back against a white painted wall and digging through his pockets for the offending phone. The screen flipped back with a small snap, displaying the time (a little after 9:00 am, too early for another smoke, alas) and a notification for one unread text message. He lazily gleamed over the characters until the name came into focus.

Yu Narukami.

Dojima couldn't open the message fast enough.

_We've arrived at Junes. We'll be going into the TV World shortly._

The dectective blinked as the words sunk in, reading the message two, three times more to make sure he got everything. Already? It wasn't too early in the day, sure, but some part of him had expected them to maybe start their monster hunt after noon or something. It just seemed more practical somehow; they could devote the morning to going over battle plans and then work from there when they'd already entered the TV World.

Dojima couldn't exactly fault them for wanting to get an early start, but he would've expected to get this a little—

Wait.

Today was Friday. Yu should be in school right now.

They should _all_ be in school right now.

His mouth tightened into a scowl and he let out a groan that was probably more long-suffering than it needed to be before he could bring himself to even look at his phone again. God. Dojima could feel the beginnings of a headache start to prickle at his skull from behind his temples. He had literally just been thinking about the kids skipping class earlier today—he hadn't meant it to be any kind of premonition of the future. Hell, if this was how his day was going to go, he'd probably need to buy another pack of cigarettes before he even left work.

The detective grumbled again as he typed out his response.

_Headed right there, huh? I can't say I blame you, but I would've hoped you wouldn't skip school today._

Yu's response was almost instant, hardly giving the detective any time to think.

_Today is Showa Day. There was no school._

...Ah.

Dojima suddenly felt like a balloon that had lost its air. He combed his brain for the memory. Right... There had been some kind of holiday listed on the calendar for today, hadn't there? He could vaguely remember seeing something written for Friday when he'd marked the calendar the other night.

Well shit, now he felt bad for doubting. In all the excitement that had happened over the past two days, he'd just forgotten.

_Sorry. Forgot. Police don't really get days off with a potential murder up in the air, so it slipped my mind._

_I understand._

There was a lull in the messages for a moment. Dojima could see Yu typing, so he didn't try to interrupt.

_Uncle... I know I was rather... Doubtful of our chances at rescuing Yukiko, but I believe that we are as well prepared now as we could possibly be. That being said, if we don't make it out alive, I want you to know that I've fully enjoyed my time here with you and Nanako. And it isn't your fault._

_I know_ , Dojima wrote back, though he wasn't entirely sure which of the two statements he was responding to.

_Goodbye then. I'll text you when we get back._

...

Dojima waited a few minutes to see if he'd get anymore messages, then snapped his phone shut. No, he thought, slinging his jacket over his shoulder and relegating his coffee to the crook of his elbow where he could still keep track of it, 9:00 am was not at all too early for another smoke break.

* * *

He kept himself busy in the time since then. There was plenty of calls to answer to, and plenty of paperwork that needed filling out. So much paperwork in fact that the police detective actually ran out of ink for his name seal—everything that could afford to wait a few days had to be pushed off to the side since he wouldn't be able to sign it properly. Dojima considered asking one of the men nearby—Bunta maybe—if he had an ink pad handy, but ultimately decided against it. If things could wait another day, they could wait another day. He'd have to pick up some more ink later when he got off work.

They got a plea for atonement from Norishige (well, more like a prolonged sob of atonement once he sobered up and realized he was in jail) before anyone had even asked him any questions. He confessed almost right away. According to him, rather than coming from an office drinking party like Dojima had initially expected, he'd gone right home after a long day at the office and found his girlfriend with another man, at which point the two got into an argument leading to Norishige heading out for the night to drown his sorrows. He hadn't wanted to return home and see his girlfriend yet, so he'd gone to eat breakfast at the Aiya diner instead.

A few phone calls confirmed at least that the part of him returning home to a cheating lover was true. A few officers were sent to the bars that Norishige mentioned crawling through the night before to see if they could confirm he was there as well. The girlfriend, one miss Ayako Ohtani, seemed genuinely remorseful and asked if her dear Sako would be sent to jail, to which Dojima replied that there was a fairly decent chance charges would be dropped considering this seemed to be a one-time thing and no real damage had been done. She'd been quite relieved to hear that.

At around four o' clock, the Superintendent came in with a young man at his side and asked everyone to stand at attention. No—upon further inspection, what Dojima had thought was a young man was actually a teenager, probably around Yu's age. Probably even a little younger. The Superintendent meanwhile looked rather pleased with himself, something Dojima had a sinking feeling meant whatever everyone was being called for was something that he likely wouldn't enjoy very much.

It wasn't that the police detective had anything against his boss, far from it actually. He respected the man greatly. But Dojima also knew that what the superintendent wanted was not always what was best for the officers on the streets.

"Everyone!" he said, clapping the strange teenager on the back and bringing him forward, "As you all know, the men up top aren't too pleased with our work so far on the murder case. As such, they've brought in one of their best and brightest to assist us in the investigation. May I present to you all, the fifth generation of the Shirogane detective family, Naoto Shirogane, the famed Detecive Prince."

The teenager—Naoto—bowed immediately, and introduced himself in what Dojima imagined must've been a fairly polite manner considering the boy's status and pedigree, but sadly he couldn't hear what was being said over dozens of chairs scraping against the floor followed by the sudden uproar of every single other person in the room.

Figures.

No matter how much this kid could potentially help with the case, Dojima's suspicion turned out to be correct: the other men on the force really didn't like this new turn of events. They didn't see it as the brass bringing in a fresh pair of eyes to examine the case from any new angles that they might've missed—they saw it as a slap in the face to all their hard work. The boys in Inaba aren't getting their case solved quick enough, time to bring in some hotshot from the big city.

He couldn't really blame them. Dojima was certain that if he didn't already know this case was something that they genuinely couldn't solve on their own, he'd probably be up in arms giving the kid some frack too. Still, hurt feelings or not, that didn't mean they couldn't be civil about things.

The police detective shook his head in disapproval, wincing at the effect the sudden increase of volume in the room had on his head—a whole day's worth of coffee, cigarettes, and very little sleep tended to leave one with a headache.

Dojima _felt_ rather than heard his phone go off. For once, he didn't mind the interruption, since it gave him an excuse to leave the room full of yelling coworkers and go some place that wouldn't feel like ice picks being jabbed behind his ears. He got up from his desk and tried to excuse himself as discretely as possible. The detective had a feeling of being watched while he left the room, but considering he didn't see a single person turn around, something told Dojima it was probably just his imagination.

He stepped into the hallway, instantly feeling better now that the sound was a bit more muffled and the air was a bit less stuffy. God. He was not going to enjoy coming to work Monday morning if things continued like this. Assuming they didn't have him come in Saturday and Sunday too.

Dojima idly checked his phone, staring at the screen more in an attempt to refocus rather than to actually see if he'd gotten anything. A little red flag in the corner of his screen. New messages. He clicked a few buttons on autopilot and brought them up, not really caring what they were. The characters were blurry anyways. Probably just his sister checking in on him and Yu again this week, or someone with a wrong number.

His eyes caught the word "Yukiko" while wandering around the tiny screen and suddenly Dojima felt his throat constrict. The words on the screen appeared before him in crystal clarity.

_We've got Yukiko._

_Please come to Junes._

He damn near dropped his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Japanese legal system is very different than the one in America. From what I've been able to gather (which might not be entirely accurate) it goes something like this: Confessions from the accused, usually in the form of telling the police minor details about the case rather than an outright admittance of guilt, are very important. Most cases are settled out of court, or in smaller courts, with only the cases that are practically guaranteed to end in a conviction ever ending up going to trial. The most important and easiest way for a case to not lead to a conviction is to cooperate with the police, and make it very clear that even if you didn't do what you are accused of doing, you are VERY sorry that it ever happened in the first place. For the Japanese, showing that you are sorry or otherwise willing to atone for what happened shows that you are more likely make amends for what has been done and reintegrate into society without needing to go to trial first. Making amends for a crime can end up being really expensive, but honestly it's either spend a lot of money or spend a lot of money and probably go to jail as well, so take your pick I guess.
> 
> Most important documents in Japan are signed not with signatures (though those are still used in certain contexts) but with very specific and highly regulated name seals in order to save time when filing paperwork, as well as to reduce the risk of fraud. I haven't yet found out what kind of name seal is used in police documents, but I know that the police DO use them, so I figured Dojima would have one on him for paperwork.
> 
> Ayako Ohtani may or may not have any relation Hanako Ohtani. I don't imagine she'll be reappearing in this story anyways, so it probably doesn't matter.
> 
> While it might seem strange to introduce Naoto so early, I imagine that she spent a good amount of time getting familiar with the Yasoinaba area before launching her own investigation with Kanji. She went after him because of a hypothesis, so naturally she'd have to be around and aware of the case details long enough to make that hypothesis first. Furthermore, keeping with canon, no one knows Naoto is a girl yet, not even the police who really should know better considering they would have access to her records. She'll be referred to with male pronouns until the inevitable reveal.
> 
> And to everyone that has continued following this story in the past year and a half: thank you. It was always in the back of my mind, and I always wanted to come back to it some day.


	5. In Which Dojima Meets The Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dojima has what could probably be considered a minor panic attack, which the author would like to advise everyone to be wary of.

Nothing was real. The room felt like it was spinning. Hell, it might've been for all that everything had just come crashing down on Dojima in that moment.

His feet started moving before his mind could.

Adachi's voice rang out in the hallway. "Wha—Hey, Dojima-san, where are you going?"

Dojima hadn't noticed the other man's presence earlier. He'd probably just stepped out to use the bathroom or something. Whatever. That didn't matter. He was already drafting a text to Yu, _I'm on my way._

Junes. He needed to get to Junes. Where Yu and his friends could very likely be injured.

"Dojima-san!" God. Had that voice always been so grating? Could Adachi not see that he had more important things to do right now than just stand around and chatter?

"Something's just come up," he said, pocketing his phone and not even bothering to look back as the sound of his shoes clacking against the tiled floors filled the hallway. "I'll fill you in later."

He needed to go. He needed to go. The receptionist was typing something at her desk when he walked by. She looked surprised to see him.

"What's got you leaving in a hurry all of a sudden?"

"Family emergency. Can you clock me out for today?"

She looked like she wanted to say something more, but nodded instead. Dojima waved her off as he headed through the front door, setting his foot in the parking lot and his sights on Junes.

It was the fastest he'd ever driven without being in active pursuit.

* * *

By the time he'd arrived in the Junes parking lot, everything the detective had been feeling back in the station had congealed into a deep anxiety in the pit of his stomach. He needed to calm down. He needed—

Dojima had gotten a text from Yu, which meant that (at that point in time) Yu was alive and coherent and absolutely not dead.

He needed to breathe.

But the text hadn't mentioned how everyone else was doing.

He needed to breathe.

Logically, if Yu hadn't mentioned anyone else, then they were doing just fine and there was no need to worry.

He needed to breathe.

But anxiety is not a logical thing, and as Dojima headed his way through the parking lot and into Junes proper he felt like he'd done enough worrying in the span of a few seconds to last a dozen lifetimes.

He needed to breathe.

The moment the sliding doors opened and a small gush of cold air hit him from inside the store, something in him short circuited and immediately forgot everything that had been on his mind since he left the station. He stopped.

He needed to breathe.

There were people milling about idly, comparing vegetables on plastic containers or cardboard boxes, chatting to one another about anything at all, completely unaware of Dojima and the pressing concern that brought him here. A child was tugging on her mother's dress. A man in a suit was trying to figure out which eggplant to buy for the night's dinner. A salesman called out a cheerful greeting to him from inside the store.

Dojima felt like he was entering into a different world. His chest felt unbearably tight.

He needed to breathe.

So he closed his eyes and took a breath.

He eased back into reality slowly, letting as much tension out as he could on the exhale. He took another breath. Steeled his resolve. Walked into the store. Exhaled. Opened his eyes. He was here to find Yu and his friends, and bring them home. He took another breath. The detective was already scanning the crowds of people for any young or familiar faces, cursing himself internally at the knowledge that he didn't actually know what any of Yu's friends looked like. Did Yu know that when he texted him earlier? Had he forgotten? Or was the teenager planning on meeting up with Dojima himself and leading him to the others?

He didn't know.

Regardless, he couldn't keep just standing in the middle of the store. He'd had been lingering in one spot long enough that people were starting to notice. Dojima picked a direction and started walking.

* * *

He was was currently about two minutes into wandering around the home appliances section and about ten or fifteen minutes into wandering Junes proper. Yu hadn't told him where exactly there were meeting in Junes—nor had he texted his uncle at all since then, which only set Dojima even more on edge—so the police detective was currently on his own as to how he was going to find his nephew's little group.

"Looking for something?" A voice suddenly perked up from behind him.

He turned, finding a decidedly androgynous young man in a red shirt instead of a teenager or a Junes employe. Or no—wasn't that a Moel station uniform? This kid probably just got off work then.

"You could say that," Dojima responded, turning back to peering through the various aisles one by one.

"Well," the young man offered, "I don't work here myself, but maybe I could help you? What are you looking for exactly?"

If he was being honest with himself, even if this stranger had only the best of intentions in asking, the questions were starting to irritate him. Dojima wasn't exactly panicking anymore, but he was still very much on edge. It felt like even the smallest of things seemed so much worse. It felt like this stranger was mocking him. It felt like he was rubbing the detective's failure to find his kids in his face.

"I'm looking for my nephew and his friends," Dojima said flatly. He kept walking along the tiled floor as he spoke, peering into the aisles as they went past. "We... Came in the store together, but then my nephew ran off without telling me where he was going first. So now I'm just wandering around looking for a lead on him."

The stranger hummed. Dojima imagined the young man was putting a hand to his chin in thought as he spoke.

"Well, kids usually aren't the kind to run off. If they do, they're more likely to find you again than you are to find them. But if they're teenagers, then they're probably just looking at videogames or something. Have you tried the electronics section yet?"

Dojima stopped walking and turned almost on a dime to face the stranger, an unnecessarily sharp retort already on his tongue because _no_ , you don't _understand_ , they're not _that_  kind of teenager, they wouldn't be in the _electronics section_ , they'd be somewhere _safe and secure with their friend_.

But then he stopped. Let the angry words die down in his throat.

And he thought it over.

And suddenly, Dojima felt like the biggest idiot on the planet.

No wonder Yu hadn't mentioned where in Junes they would be—he hadn't needed to. If the world they'd rescued Amagi-san from was inside a TV, wouldn't that logically mean they would be where the TVs were?

He took a quick glance at the department sign overhead and took off, the clacking of his shoes against the tile floors mixing in with mulled conversation from fellow shoppers and the quiet amusement of the Moel station attendent.

Five minutes later he spotted Yu milling about in one of the aisles, pacing in front of one of the widescreens looking for all the world like he was simply a young man pondering whether or not to make an expensive purchase. Dojima called out to him immediately.

"Yu!"

The teenager's head perked up at the sounds of his name being called and Dojima ran over to him as quickly as he could. Crossing the distance between them only took a few seconds—for the second time in as many days, the police detective wrapped his nephew up in a hug as soon as he was close enough to do so. A sharp hiss coming from the smaller male caused Dojima to loosen his grip immediately.

"Sorry about that," he said, looking just about everywhere except his nephew as Yu gingerly rolled his shoulder. "I—You hadn't said anything about injuries, so I guess I assumed that..."

_I guess I assumed that everything was fine._

Yu shook his head and offered his uncle a small smile. "It's not that bad, actually. Just a little sore. Yosuke was able to get everything down to bumps and bruises before we left the TV World. We should be fine by this time next week."

Dojima was glad to hear it, and he made sure to say so. He had enough to worry about already without adding any injuries to the list. Speaking of his worries...

"So where is the Amagi girl? You said she was with you, but I don't see her wandering around in the store. You kids holed up in a back room or something?" He said, angling his head just a little bit higher to get a further look down the aisles.

Yu tugged gently on his arm. "She's with Chie in the staff room. I'll take you there, Yosuke is watching the door to make sure no one gets in."

The staff room ends up being not that far away, only a few aisles back. Yu raps on the door with his knuckles, and a boy on the other side with obviously bleached brown hair (Yosuke, he presumed) eyes them both before letting them in.

Walking through the door, Dojima was quietly struck with the notion that his first meeting with his nephew's friends likely should've been at a house party during the summertime, or some group study session in the living room as they all prepared for exams next month. Not huddled around in a sterile looking department store break room, the colors of their clothing being the only thing in the room that wasn't black, white, or grey.

"Hey," Dojima greeted dumbly. All the heads in the room turned to look at him, eyes wide open like so many owls. Yosuke gives Yu a few confused, and perhaps irritated looks which Yu only shrugs at. Dojima imagines the two will be talking about this later. Right now, he couldn't really care.

There was still another two pairs of eyes looking at him. One of them was quite clearly the Amagi girl—sitting in a plastic chair off to the corner in a pale pink kimono, every inch an innkeeper's daughter, a girl in a green jacket (probably Chie) holding her hand and staring Dojima right in the eyes with a slightly unsettling determination. Amagi-san's eyes left him quickly, heading back down to gaze at the table she was seated at. Dojima couldn't blame her. She looked... small. Fragile. Not at all like her other self on the Midnight Channel.

He didn't know what to say. Feeling Yu's gaze boring into his shoulder, Dojima felt like he should know what to say. He was the adult in the room. He was the one with the experience dealing with murderers and kidnappers, of coming back from a life or death situation and finding out how to live with himself afterwards. But he didn't know what to say.

So all he said was "You kids eaten yet?"

* * *

None of them really wanted to stay at Junes. As Dojima pointed it out, there was too much risk of being seen, and parading about a recent kidnapping victim in public was probably only going to end up with her getting kidnapped again. Not only that, they needed to figure out a good cover story for Yukiko's sudden disappearance and reappearance. Teenagers went missing all the time, but they generally didn't do so by being thrown into another dimension, and as a parent himself, Dojima rather thought that Yukiko's family would like to know where she'd been the whole time.

With not much else to do and no where else to go, the kids all piled into Dojima's car and headed home. They picked up food on the way from some family-owned sushi place—the police detective was more than happy to let the kids get what they wanted considering what they'd done and what kind of day they'd had. Hell, when they got home, Dojima was thinking of treating himself to some of the really nice hooch that he had hidden away on the top cabinets. He was surprised though; the kids insisted on paying for at least half of their food.

Or more specifically, Yu paid for at least half of their food. Dojima was fully ready to argue about it when Yosuke explained the deal to him while Chie was in the background debating whether it was worth getting the beef tongue sashimi or not if this place didn't carry her more favored wagyu. Yu had been their leader in the effort to rescue their fellow classmate from the TV World. As such, he was the one in charge of the funds; Yosuke and Chie both had already given Yu as much money as they could spare.

And from what the detective could figure by the sheer virtue of the fact that Yu had gotten the three of them adequate weapons (which Dojima was going to have to examine later), adequate medical supplies, was currently paying for their dinner, and had never once asked Dojima for money during the time that he'd spent so far in Inaba—Yu was very good at managing their funds.

Dojima had to admit, he was surprised, even though at this point he was starting to feel like he really shouldn't be anymore. At every turn his nephew was proving to be more capable than Dojima had initially thought.

He'd have to ask his sister just what on Earth she was doing when she was raising this boy. Clearly, it was something the detective would have to try for himself.

They left the restaurant without any incident and headed home. Yosuke was the first one out of the car, eager to see what his "partner's" house looked like regardless of the girls yelling at him to help carry the food in. Dojima ended up being the last one inside.

"Nanako! We're home!"

His little girl's eyes were wide open as she watched all the teenagers moving around in their kitchen, a few of them stopping to say hello an introduce themselves to her as friends of Yu's.

"There's so many people!" she breathed, astounded, "Is big bro having a sleepover?"

She looked at him.

And, in between fussing over where the chopsticks were for dinner and commenting on the decor of the living room, so did a few of the teenagers.

Dojima felt a strong need to sigh. Thankfully, while he was struggling to come up with child friendly words to explain the situation to Nanako with, Yu decided to butt in and save him.

"That's right," the silver-haired teenager said, crouching down to speak with his cousin at eye level. "We're having a sleepover. I've made some very good friends at school recently, and we all decided to get together for a little party to help celebrate my first friends in Inaba."

"Wow, really?" Nanako asked, eyes practically sparkling at the thought.

Yu nodded, a fond smile on his face as he continued. "Yup. But we're still getting things set up for right now. Would you mind getting some of the extra blankets from the closet for us while we get the table ready for dinner?"

"Okay!"

They watched her go, happy to help her cousin have a good time with his friends. Dojima offered a quiet thank you to his nephew, who merely nodded in affirmation. Chie was the first to break the silence.

"Soooo, are we really staying the night here, Dojima-san? I mean, I don't think my parents will have a problem with it, except for the really short notice, but shouldn't Yukiko go back to the inn as soon as possible?"

Dojima frowned slightly and shook his head. "Not necessarily. While yes, Mr. and Mrs. Amagi certainly have a right to see their daughter again after so much time worried sick, right now the safest place she can be is under police surveillance. Normally that would be in a room at the station, but I think we might be able to make an exception in this case."

He turned to address Yukiko, still looking downwards instead of meeting anyone's gaze. "I'll be giving them a call shortly to let them know you've been found. You're free to talk to them if you want."

"I'd—I would like that very much. Thank you Dojima-san." she said.

The police detective couldn't help but give the shy girl a smile. It was the first time this night so far that she'd spoken to anyone except her friend.

"So, what happens after today then?" Yosuke spoke up suddenly. "We know the killer tried to get to Yukiko-san by throwing her into the TV just like he did to Saki-senpai. How do we know he won't try again when he realizes that his plan didn't work?"

"That's a really good point," Chie chimed in, more than a little uncertainty coloring her voice, "I mean, the past two attempts so far were successful. Yukiko said she didn't remember who threw her in the TV, but what if the killer doesn't know that and tries to throw her back in to keep her from telling anyone who he is?"

"Then we keep a close eye on her." Dojima said. "You kids see her in class every day right? Between the three of you, you should be able to keep a fairly good lookout in case someone tries something suspicious."

The kids traded a few glances between each other, some emotion passing between them that Dojima could only guess at. They seemed to reach a consensus though, and nodded in firm resolution.

Nanako picked that exact moment to reappear from the upstairs hallway, arms full of blankets.

"I'm back! I got all the blankets I could fi—aw, you guys _still_ aren't ready?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It really doesn't feel like it's been a month since the last update. But that's probably because of the two weeks I spent in a depressive haze.
> 
> Dojima didn't text Yu to ask where he was in Junes because sometimes you don't always do the obvious thing when you're stressed out and also I needed to pad my wordcount. Boy howdy, sure is lucky that that random unimportant gas station attendant was doing their shopping, huh?
> 
> I did some research on Japanese department stores while writing this chapter, but eventually figured that since Inaba is a small town, Junes probably isn't as grand as most other department stores. However, since "department store" in Japan is just a classification for "a store that has 50 or more employees", Junes could effectively just be a wal-mart. As such, I imagined its layout very similarly to my local wal-mart when i wrote this. I haven't seen the anime, so it might be laid out like a regular multistory department store, but the layout as written is ambiguous anyways so you can imagine it however you want.
> 
> Dojima is calling the kids by their first names instead of their last names because they actually haven't introduced themselves yet. He doesn't know what their names are. Also, in contrast to the research notes in the last chapter regarding Dojima's police procedure, I couldn't find anything on the procedure for locating a missing person. So I have no idea if this is legal or not, but I don't feel like rewriting it.
> 
> This chapter, like the last one, has not been beta read, so if it seems all over the place, that's why. I need to get in touch with my old betas again, this story feels unpolished. ;-;

**Author's Note:**

> why is there no fic with Izanagi as a character
> 
> this started out as a drabble and then became the groundwork for a rewrite of the entire game.....
> 
> the prompt came from a book called Complete The Story


End file.
